By a razor-thin 215–214 vote held before dawn Thursday, House Republicans muscled through a sweeping legislative package that cements much of President Donald Trump’s second-term policy agenda—marking a decisive victory for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and igniting a looming confrontation in the Senate. Only two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Warren Davidson (Ohio), voted against the measure, while House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) abstained, registering “present.”
.@SpeakerJohnson: "THE BILL IS PASSED." 🔥 pic.twitter.com/tEGN0Uac9R
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 22, 2025
The bill—branded the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”—extends Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, defunds green energy subsidies, hikes defense and border security spending, and imposes strict new Medicaid work requirements expected to cut coverage for millions. It also raises the debt ceiling by $4 trillion and delivers on Trump’s pledges to eliminate federal taxes on tipped income and overtime pay. Pushed through the reconciliation process to evade a Senate filibuster, the legislation represents the most ambitious conservative legislative package in decades, wrote The Hill.
“This is a big day,” Johnson said at a press conference surrounded by GOP leadership after the vote. “We said on the House floor: It’s finally morning in America again.”
Getting the bill across the finish line required Johnson to thread the needle between the party’s hard-right flank and tax-sensitive suburban moderates. Conservatives secured faster timelines for entitlement reform and deeper spending cuts—some of which will be delivered via executive action. In exchange, moderates forced a compromise on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, raising the cap to $40,000 for households making up to $500,000, in a deal reached hours before the vote.
“The GOP Tax Scam rips healthcare and food assistance away from millions of people in order to provide tax cuts to the wealthy, the well-off and the well-connected,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said in a statement following the vote. “This fight is just beginning, and House Democrats will continue to use every tool at our disposal to ensure that the GOP Tax Scam is buried deep in the ground, never to rise again.”
Democratic Governor of New York, however, attacked the bill because it didn’t help rich people enough, revealing that Democrats would simply attack the bill regardless of what happened.
The bill now moves to the Senate, where Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) signaled potential revisions to the Medicaid provisions and tax cuts—a prospect that has already drawn a hard line from House conservatives.
With a possible Treasury default looming by mid-July, congressional leaders face a tight window to reconcile the House and Senate versions. Republicans hope to deliver a final package to Trump’s desk by Independence Day, setting up a high-stakes fight that could determine the trajectory of the president’s second term—and reshape the federal government for a generation.
